Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Palestinian "self-destruction"

As in any war, it is the child casualties that attract the greatest sympathy and anguish. But Friday's 13-month-old victim carries special significance: Her death by the Palestinians' own rocket fire perfectly symbolizes the self-destructive pathology that has afflicted the Palestinians since the 1960s. Palestinian leaders would quite literally prefer to slaughter their own people than turn Gaza into a normal country that deals on civilized terms with its neighbours.

On Saturday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel for "excessive and disproportionate" use of force. We reject that censure of Israeli actions, as should leaders of all civilized nations. No nation on Earth would sit back passively as a neighbouring territory bombarded its cities with rockets.

It is true that the Palestinians have suffered the bulk of the casualties in the ensuing counterterrorism operations. But such arithmetic does not change the moral calculus: It is not Israel's fault that the Palestinians choose to keep reigniting a lopsided and unwinnable war. Moreover, so long as Palestinians maintain the inhumane and terroristic practise of launching their rockets from civilian areas, Israel is blameless -- under both the letter and spirit of international law -- for the fact that some civilians die alongside the jihadis who deploy among them.

The situation of the Palestinians is a gruesome tragedy. But insofar as post-occupation Gaza is concerned, it is entirely self-inflicted. When Hamas, or whoever else takes over Gaza in coming years, decides to stop using the Palestinian people as one collective suicide bomber, they will find a willing peace partner in Israel. Until then, the Palestinian blood that flows won't stain Israeli hands.

3 comments:

vancouverite
said...

Good article. It is unreal that anyone could actually blame Israel for this mess.... yet it happens every flippin day.

While on the topic of Palestinian self-destruction: Before Israel handed over Gaza the Israeli farmers living there were going to dismantle all their greenhouses. But a bunch of "liberal" Jews raised significant money and bought the greenhouses as a gift to the Palestinians to help them establish themselves and become independent. What was the first thing the Palestinians did when they got Gaza? They smashed all the greenhouses.

"Give us land, we want to have our own State and not be dominated by these brutal Israelis." Sure they do. Their voices might say that, but time and time again their actions tell a different story.

When will people wake up and realize that the fundamentalist don't want peace. They will sacrifice their own kind for the sake of their ultimate goal which is the destruction of Israel, Western Civilization, and the global dominance of Sharia law.

The saying is true: If the Palestinians put down their weapons peace could be achieved. If Israel put down its weapons there would be no more Israel.

To those of us who see Israel as a candle shining in the swirling toxic smog that is the Muslim Middle East, it is difficult to understand the animosity that underlies so much daily societal discourse.

I work with a group of young S/W engineers, guys in their early 30s, who absorbed the accepted wisdom, prevalent in our universities, that Israel is the source of all angst and anger. These guys talk of the plight of the “poor Palestinians” but it becomes immediately apparent that they know literally nothing of the 19th and 20th century history of the region. Their knowledge and attitude were downloaded a decade ago and have not been upgraded since. Static minds.

As I was saying to Dag the other day, it's almost as if our minds are wired by our habitual patterns of association and it's really tough to change them. But it can and must be done. And so best luck in the struggle with your colleagues.